Octoberfest..oh dear..I am so sooooo late. Can we please have 'November-fest'!????
We've been beyond busy at work, much of everything has gone by-the-wayside. Many days have escaped without me hugging one of these as well (That's my girl, Cherry. She loves hugs):
However, I am
determined to keep my promise to Rita of
jewelschoolfriends.com regarding her Octoberfest Blog Hop!
A few months ago, I received brilliant orange beads from Lisa Lodge of Pine Ridge Studios as part of a set from her upcoming Sparkle Challenge. Remember this set from one of my prior posts?:
Orange is a great happy sunny color, which I've typically shied-away from in jewelry, clothing, home furnishings..or beads. My husband is 'the great lover' of orange. He is totally utterly nuts about orange, Halloween is his favorite holiday. So, I must admit, when I opened this package, there was a moment of 'surprised panic'. Orange beads!?..what am I going to do with these?! Gorgeous, sparkling, but Orange!? uhh oh...I'm in trouble for sure.
Fast-forward to an unplanned stop at the nearest Michaels store one night after work. You know those wonderfully-guilty opportunities...running about 40 minutes ahead of schedule (unheard-of, right?), you're nearing the turn-off lane for the shopping center (should I? No! I shouldn't!...Oh what the heck)....and in you go, despite having tons of supplies and stuff at home! YAY..'me' time!
Strolling around the store, I wandered into the bead aisle. A few moments later, a strand of super-sparkly beads caught my eye. Totally 'uber-super' sparkly, come-hither beads. Guess what?..these were orange-based, too. Just like that, it all came together.
They call these 'Challenges' for a reason. Try a new color, a new style, a new technique. I pulled out bronze wire, a bit of vintage bronze chain, a cute bronze clasp (ok, not october-ish, but I love this one!), and suddenly developed a new fondness for wire-wrapping. Wire-wrapping
never existed in my repertoire before. I always seemed to struggle with wire, of any sort. However, thanks to an excellent tutorial from Melissa Meman of
Melismatic and
ArtJewelryElements, something 'clicked' and I 'totally-get wire-wrapping' now (thank you, Melissa!). Please, check-out all of the fantastic tutorials at ArtJewelryElements (AJE) if you are struggling..they cover many topics, the directions are clear/concise/well-written and are beautifully photographed. Lots of fun, too!
To 'wrap-this-up':
1. I am totally desperately late for Octoberfest;
2. I am early for Sparkle Challenge (don't worry, I have
many more pieces created from this excellent bead set in preparation for the December Challenge reveal date);
3. I am completely in love with this new necklace and with wire!!!
Thank you all for bearing with me, for stopping by (again), and many thanks to Rita, Lisa, Melissa!
Carol
